Secrets Of The Home-Brew

Forget the matted beards, the plastic buckets and the foul-tasting beers.

There’s now a growing movement of streetwise twenty-something’s creating high-quality beer in their homes. Some harbour ambitions to go pro, some are already professionals piloting new recipes whilst others are simply brewing to entertain themselves and their friends.

Home-brewing has long been a cool hobby stateside, and whilst British brewers say they’re still struggling to shake-off the ‘socks and sandals’ stereotype that CAMRA conventions conjure up, there are signs that the tide is changing.

With high-street shops like Wilkinson now selling budget brew kits and outlets such as Hop and Grape specialising in equipment for budding brewers, it’s now easier to get into home-brewing than ever before.

But why not just stick to your local? Well, it’s fun for a start, it can save you some serious money in the long-run and if you persist and stick on the right side of the law, you can even turn your hobby into a decent earner.

The Professional

Phil Lowry earns his living at London’s Brew Wharf but still finds the time to home-brew. “The people who are engaged with it are 25-35’s,” he says. “These are people in bands. These are people who drive race cars, who shoot guns at weekends. They are not grumpy old men hiding in their sheds.”